The present invention relates to a fuzing system for use with tandem demolition warheads, and more particularly, a fuzing system to sequentially activate a propellant on the rear section of a follow through charge, detonate a forward-shaped charge located between the follow through charge and the structure to be demolished, and detonate the follow through charge after a brief delay.
The demolition of reinforced structures, in particular steel reinforced concrete, is often best accomplished if the explosives are embedded within the structure, for example, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,666 issued on Nov. 6, 1990 to Kellner et al. The penetrated augmented munitions discussed below is specifically designed with a forward-shaped charge for creating an opening in the structure to be demolished into which a follow through charge is propelled. After a brief delay, the follow through charge detonates inside the structure to be demolished.
Military procurement specifications require that all explosives meet certain standards with regard to safety and arming. These standards include resilience of the munitions to shock loads, multiple independent arming steps to prevent inadvertent detonation, and spatial separation of primary explosives from secondary explosives. Primary explosives tend to be extremely unstable, and are therefore useful for triggering larger, more stable secondary explosives.
The fuzing system of the present invention requires manual insertion of the blast initiator or blasting caps followed by two sequential manual arming operations. The blasting caps initiate detonation of an explosive train which ignites the propulsion system on the follow through charge and activates the arming assembly on both the follow through charge and forward shaped charge. The follow through charge collides with the forward-shaped charge, causing its detonation. A delay detonator in the follow through charge is initiated by the blast wave from the forward-shaped charge, allowing the follow through charge to be propelled into the opening created by the forward-shaped charge prior to detonation.